Learn Hardcore Hausa: Dalibai suna zuwa aji da wuri.

Dalibai – students (plural of dalibi “student”)
su-na → suna – they
- continuous-aspect marker, together meaning they are (doing)
zuwa – going / coming (a verbal noun)
aji – class / classroom / lesson
da – with, in a state of
wuri – normally place, but in this fixed phrase da wuri it means early

So a very literal rendering is: “Students are (in the process of) going to class with earliness”, i.e. “Students come/are coming to class early.”

What is the function of suna in this sentence?

Suna is made of:

su – the pronoun they
na – a marker of continuous / progressive aspect

Together suna works like “they are (doing)” in English.

In suna zuwa, it gives a sense like “are coming / are going” or a general/habitual “come” depending on context.

Why does Hausa use zuwa (which looks like a noun) as the main verb here?

In Hausa, many actions are expressed with a verbal noun plus an aspect marker.

zuwa is the verbal noun meaning going / coming.
With suna, suna zuwa literally means “they are in the state of going/coming.”

This construction is completely normal in Hausa and functions just like a finite verb phrase. You can treat suna zuwa as the equivalent of “they (are) come/coming.”

How should I understand the tense/aspect of suna zuwa? Is it present, progressive, or habitual?

Suna zuwa is primarily continuous/progressive aspect:

Right now / these days:
- Dalibai suna zuwa aji da wuri.
  → The students are coming to class early (these days / lately).

But Hausa continuous often covers general and habitual actions as well, especially with adverbs like da wuri and generic subjects like Dalibai:

It can also mean: Students (generally) come to class early.

So, depending on context, suna zuwa can be translated as:

are coming
come (regularly)

Why is there no word like “are” between Dalibai and suna zuwa?

Hausa does not use a separate “to be” the way English does in this structure.

Dalibai is the subject.
suna zuwa already contains the pronoun su and the aspect marker na, which function together as “they are going/coming.”

So you do not say Dalibai *are suna zuwa...; that would be redundant and ungrammatical.
*Dalibai suna zuwa... already expresses “The students are coming...” by itself.

Why is it suna and not just na with Dalibai?

In the continuous aspect, Hausa normally uses a subject pronoun + aspect marker, even when you already have a noun subject:

Dalibai suna zuwa. – The students are coming.
Ali yana zuwa. – Ali is coming.
Ni ina zuwa. – I am coming.

Here, Dalibai is a third-person plural subject, so the corresponding pronoun+aspect is su + na = suna.
Leaving out su (Dalibai na zuwa) is not standard in this structure.

What exactly does aji mean here? Is it “class” or “classroom”?

Aji can cover several related meanings, and context determines which is best in English:

classroom (the physical room)
class as in the lesson / session
sometimes class as in cohort (e.g. “Class 3A”)

In Dalibai suna zuwa aji da wuri, the natural reading is:

“Students come to class early” (they arrive early for their lesson / at the classroom).

What does da wuri literally mean, and why does it translate as “early”?

Literally:

da – with, having, in a state of
wuri – place; but in some fixed expressions it contributes the idea of speed/earliness.

The phrase da wuri is idiomatic and means:

“early, ahead of time, promptly”

So aji da wuri = to class early.

You will see da in many adverbial expressions of manner or state, e.g.:

da sauri – quickly, in a hurry
da ƙarfi – strongly, with force

Can da wuri also mean “soon” in Hausa?

Yes, da wuri can, depending on context, mean something like:

“early / promptly / soon, without delay.”

For example:

Ka dawo da wuri. – Come back early / Come back soon.

In Dalibai suna zuwa aji da wuri, the natural interpretation is “early (before the scheduled time, not late)”, not just “soon at some point.”

Is there any difference between Dalibai suna zuwa aji da wuri and Daliban suna zuwa aji da wuri?

Yes, a nuance of definiteness:

Dalibai suna zuwa aji da wuri.
- Students come to class early (students in general; could be generic).
Daliban suna zuwa aji da wuri.
- -n/-r is a definite/genitive suffix.
- This sounds more like “The students are coming to class early”, referring to a specific, known group of students (e.g., the students we’ve been talking about).

English usually uses “the”, but Hausa often leaves definiteness to context and these suffixes.

How would this sentence change if I want to say one student instead of students?

You change the subject and adjust the pronoun+aspect:

Dalibi yana zuwa aji da wuri.
- Dalibi – student (singular)
- ya-na → yana – he is (doing) / she is (doing) (3rd sg. masc. form used by default for mixed/unspecified)

Meaning: “The student comes / is coming to class early.”

How would I say “We come to class early” using this pattern?

Use the first-person plural form of the pronoun+aspect:

Mu muna zuwa aji da wuri. – We are coming / We come to class early.

Often the independent mu can be dropped if the subject is clear, so you will very commonly hear:

Muna zuwa aji da wuri. – We come to class early.

Is the word order in Dalibai suna zuwa aji da wuri fixed, or can I move things around?

The basic and most natural word order here is:

Subject – (pronoun+aspect) – Verb – Place – Manner/Time

So:

Dalibai (subject)
suna zuwa (verb phrase)
aji (place)
da wuri (manner/time: “early”)

You could sometimes front da wuri for emphasis:

Da wuri dalibai suna zuwa aji. – It’s early that students come to class.

But for a learner, the safest, most neutral word order is exactly the one in the original sentence.